Music Is My Weapon

The music of Charles Manson interests us because it is a window into the mind of a madman. Manson himself was involved in the production of several music albums including his Lie: The Love & Terror Cult (Performance 1970). Brian Warner (aka Marilyn Manson), probably the most notable artist influenced by Manson, has composed several songs related to Manson, one of these being "The Beautiful People", which is a blatant reference to one of Manson's murders, in which he wrote "How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?" in blood on the victim's front door. This line originally comes from the Beatles' song Baby You're a Rich Man on Magical Mystery Tour. Hundreds of musicians have recorded songs related to Manson. These include: Neil Young's "Revolution Blues" is likely the best known, perhaps because he knew Manson, Joni Mitchell's "Same Situation" make a reference to him, "the Lord on death row", The Ramones reference Manson on "Glad To See You Go", the opening track of their 1977 album Ramones Leave Home, Devo have been accused of plagarizing portions of Manson's song "Mechanical Man" for their song of the same name. In 1982, Boston hardcore punk band Negative FX featured a picture of Charles Manson, with their logo digitally "carved" into his head, on their self-titled LP. It also featured pictures of manson family members on the back. This caused much controversy at the time. In 1985, experimental rock band Sonic Youth released the song "Death Valley 69" which was inspired by the Manson murders. In cooperation with director Richard Kern they produced a video clip for the song in which part of the band members were involved in gory scenes. White Zombie attempted to incorporate samples from Manson's Geraldo Rivera interview on their La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1 album track "Warp Asylum", but were denied permission to use them, reportedly by Manson's lawyers. System of a Down wrote the song "ATWA" on their Toxicity album about the media's viewpoints on Manson. (ATWA is an acronym used by Manson, meaning both "Air-Trees-Water-Animals" and "all the way alive."). Ozzy Osbourne recorded "Bloodbath in Paradise" on his "No Rest for the Wicked" album about the California murders. Transgressive punk rock performance artist GG Allin covered Manson's song "Garbage Dump" on his 1987 album You Give Love A Bad Name. Allin can be seen wearing a Charles Manson T-shirt on the cover of the album. Redd Kross and The Lemonheads have both covered Manson's song "Cease To Exist". Guns N' Roses drew the most notice when they recorded "Look At Your Game Girl" which is a hidden track after the last song on Guns N' Roses' last album (cover album), authored by Manson. This move was made by Axl Rose after meeting the shock rocker Brian Warner who told him about Manson's Lie album and explained how he sampled one of his songs "Mechanical Man" using some lyrics which he reworked into the track "My Monkey" on his first album. The track can be found on Portrait of an American Family. Part of the profits would have gone to him but legal action diverted them to victim Frykowski's son, instead. Brian Warner, otherwise known as Marilyn Manson, took the second half of his stage name from Manson. Industrial band Skinny Puppy also used samples in the song "Worlock" pairing them with samples from the The Beatles song "Helter Skelter". He also apears on the album cover for "Rabies" featuring the song. Alkaline Trio have also recorded a song called "Sadie" relating to Manson and the Family. It appears on both their BYO Records split with the band One Man Army and on their 2005 cd "Crimson". Florida death metal band Deicide recorded a song in which Manson is the primary subject, entitled "Lunatic of God's Creation". English doom metal band Paradise Lost refer to Manson (unsympathetically) on their album "Draconican Times". On the track "Forever Failure" a sample of Charles Manson's voice is used from the British television documentary "Charles Manson - The Man Who Killed The Sixties". Necrophagia (Phil Anselmo from Pantera) includes a "Charles Manson meditation film" on their DVD "Through the Eyes of the Dead." Another English band from Leicester, Kasabian, take their name from the family member. Manson is often referred to in rap music as well, most notably by Ice Cube in the title track of the N.W.A. album Straight Outta Compton ("Here's a murder rap to keep you dancin'/With a crime record like Charles Manson.") A Portuguese band, Mão Morta, has a song named Charles Manson. Of the many rumors of David Allan Coe, one of them is that he taught Manson how to play guitar in prison. On U2's album, "Rattle and Hum", the song "Helter Skelter" begins with Bono saying: "This is a song Charles Manson stole from The Beatles. We're stealing it back.". John Moran The Manson Family: An Opera with Iggy Pop; Produced by Philip Glass

One of the two great influences on the thinking of Charles Manson, along with the Book of Revelation, was the musical group the Beatles. According to Family members, Manson would most often quote "the Beatles and the Bible." The two influences were linked, in that Manson saw the four Beatles members as being the "four angels" referred to in Revelation 9. Revelation 9 also tells of "locusts" otherwise known as the Beatles, coming out upon the earth. It describes prophets as having "faces as the faces of men" but with "the hair of women," an assumed reference too the long hair of the all-male English group. In Revelation 9, the four angels with "breastplates of fire" or electric guitars, "issued fire and brimstone," or song lyrics.

Manson believed that the Beatles spoke to him through their lyrics, especially those included in the White Album, released in December 1968. Several songs from the White Album crystalized Manson's thinking about a coming revolt by blacks against the white Establishment. He interpreted many of the songs idiosyncratically, believing, for example, that "Rocky Raccoon" meant black people and "Happiness is a Warm Gun" was a song about getting firearms to carry on the revolution rather than--more obviously--a song about sex.

The White Album played a key role in forging Manson's warped ideology. According to Family member Paul Watkins, "Before Helter Skelter came along, all Charlie cared about was orgies."